The Culture Nerds - A Leadership Podcast
Want to constantly grow as a leader and shape a great culture in your workplace? This is the podcast for you.
Of course, if you’re a yoghurt fan who typed in ‘culture’ and ended up here …(sorry, nerdy workplace culture joke). If you’re a serious person who believes serious topics must be covered in a serious way, we may not be the petri dish for you either.
But, if you want lived executive experience and decades working with corporate clients, government agencies & NFPs, all topped off by the hilarious hosts (at least we think so!), welcome - we're glad you could join us!
We nerd out on leadership and workplace culture – which is why we’re good at them. We tackle the topics you need to develop as a leader and to transform the workplace culture you have into the workplace culture you want. And we have fun doing it.
Hard hitting topics. Easy listening.
The Culture Nerds - A Leadership Podcast
Are Performance Appraisals Worth Your Time?
Text us your thoughts or questions
Summary
Does you and your team look forward to performance appraisals, knowing it will be a positive team experience that drives real growth and development?
Or do you all dread them because they are uncomfortable, bureaucratic, and a waste of time?
Appraisals are a significant opportunity for everyone to benefit – team members, the team, the leader, and the organisation. But that isn’t always the reality. Tune in as we unpack 15 reasons appraisals are a waste of time and how to address those issues.
Links and resources mentioned in the show
The Real Cost of Poor Performance (downloadable infographic)
5 Conversations Every Manager Must Master (downloadabale PDF)
Is Your Leadership Style Enabling Accountability - or Making Underperformance Comfortable? (self-assessment questionnaire)
Plenty in 20: Managing Poor Performance (free, on-demand webinar with actionable strategies and tips)
The Culture Nerds Newsletter, a free monthly summary of subscriber resouces
Managing Poor Performance & Inspiring High Performance – a product page for those who want to explore the services we offer
What's next?
Talk to one of our culture and leadership experts - a free 30 minute consultation to problem solve any issue you are facing.
Detailed show description
Performance appraisals can feel like a futile pain in the backside. Many leaders view them as administrative burdens rather than developmental opportunities. When conducted effectively, performance reviews are transformative tools for growth, alignment, and improved team dynamics.
The fundamental problem with many appraisals is they're approached as tick-and-flick exercises rather than meaningful conversations. The opportunity to build connection, provide direction, and foster growth is missed. The most effective appraisals balance reflection on past performance with planning for future development. This pairing is essential – looking back without planning forward leaves team members without direction, while planning development without addressing current performance issues ignores potential barriers to growth.
Some key topics from this episode:
- The real value: reflecting on past performance and planning future development
- Customising frequency based on individual needs
- Creating two-way feedback conversations
- Selecting the appropriate time and location
- Providing micro-feedback throughout the year
- Planning effectively by sending questio
******************************************************
Want some insight into your workplace culture? Take our free online Culture Survey here
Visit our website The Real Learning Experience
Thanks to our producer, Josh at Deadset Podcasting
Before we get into today's episode, we want to acknowledge the privilege of living and working on Aboriginal land and we pay our respects to the Elders, past, present and emerging. Hello listeners, and welcome to another episode of the Culture Nerds a leadership podcast. My name is Simon Tyson and I'll be going through a bunch of reasons today that performance appraisals, performance reviews, are a complete waste of time. Now, spoiler alert the conclusion of this podcast is that you should still be doing them. I hope you haven't tuned in hoping to hear a whole bunch of reasons, a whole bunch of excuses, not to do them. The whole point of this podcast is there's a lot of things that make doing performance appraisals a waste of time, but that you must overcome those things because performance appraisals a waste of time, but that you must overcome those things because performance appraisals and reviews are actually essential. Now just a semantic point. As we start, I'm going to use performance appraisals, performance reviews interchangeably. I mean exactly the same thing by them. So there's the spoiler before we get started, before we get into the content of the podcast, I need to remind you about this month's theme. Regular listeners will know that every month we have a theme around the resources we make available for our network, and most of them are free, as every month, this month the theme is around performance management, so managing poor performance and inspiring high performance. There's our Plenty in 20 episode this month, which focuses on managing poor performance. That's the specific topic this month. For new listeners, our Plenty in 20 are on-demand webinars that I personally deliver. They're short, they're sharp, they're punchy, they're full of great content and tips and they're designed for you to watch on demand. There's one every month and you should watch them every month. Don't let them accumulate. It's that little 20-minute shot of leadership goodness that will help you solve some of the problems that you face in your role.
Speaker 1:The team have also done an incredible job of creating some other specific resources around managing poor performance that look at the style you adopt and what that might be leading to in the performance of your team, and when I say the style, I mean your specific style in relation to dealing with issues around performance. There's also some resources that follow on from that, some wonderful guides, including a step-by-step guide to having some of those more challenging conversations. Now, all of that's free. All of that will be linked in the show notes. There's also a newsletter which comes out at the end of every month summarising all of the resources that fit under the monthly theme, and there'll be a link in the show notes so you can subscribe to that. And finally, we have a product page. This is the only thing that's not. Finally, we have a product page. This is the only thing that's not free. But our free resources are great, but they don't go the full journey for all of our listeners, for all of our clients. So the product page is really for those of you who are saying we need a bit more help with this.
Speaker 1:And this month we're featuring our program on managing poor performance and inspiring high performance, which you can bring as in-house to do for your people. It's somewhere between a two and four day program, depending upon the time you've got available, the budget, the depth, et cetera, that we go into the content. And then, of course, the final resource is this podcast. So let's get into it. Between this podcast and those other resources I've mentioned that will be released through the month, you should be well equipped to deal with performance issues in your team, not just dealing responding to poor performance, but also inspiring people to perform at their best. So let's get into those reasons that performance appraisals are a waste of time, and then let's try and help you deal with those issues I'm going to come up. I'm going to do this in a sort of linear way so that instead of just listing a whole bunch of reasons they're a problem or a waste of time, I'm going to list one and then talk to you about a few solutions. So the first thing that makes performance appraisals a waste of time is probably not being really clear on what they are. So let's define what we're talking about here to make sure we're on the same page. So let's define what we're talking about here to make sure we're on the same page.
Speaker 1:And what I mean by performance appraisal is a formal discussion that reflects on the past performance over whatever period. Now there's a little hint in there that they shouldn't necessarily be 12 monthly and I'll come back to that. So I'm going to say whatever period. It's a formal discussion to reflect on the performance, the past performance, over that designated period and to plan the future development. So if we start with that understanding, that critical pairing of past performance, past performance and future development, then we're on the same page.
Speaker 1:Very often when we do an appraisal it's very weighted in the past and it doesn't give people anything to work towards. It reflects on what's happened and that could be great or it could be not so great. On the other hand, if we're just planning future development, we're not addressing the things that might be preventing that development. So it should be one of several conversations. It shouldn't be the only conversation that you have with your people. This is just the more formal one. So it sums it up. It brings all of that together into a discussion that reflects and plans Now on that basis.
Speaker 1:If we're agreed on that, let's dive into the things that make that process ineffective. And the first thing is that you're doing them for the wrong reason, and we see this very commonly. So when I say the wrong reason, let me throw a few thoughts around. One of the wrong reasons is it's there to give a whole year of feedback. It's not part of that broad discussion. That's not its purpose, and again I'll go back to the pairing I talked about before Reflect on the past period, plan for the future. It doesn't mean that's the only time we reflect on them, and we'll talk about this more as we go. Don't save up all your feedback for that one discussion.
Speaker 1:It's not a salary review. It's not the time. It might relate partly to salary review, but that shouldn't be its primary focus. The outcome of the review may influence the salary of the performance appraisal may influence the salary review. There might be certain criteria you have in your organisation that need to be satisfied for people to progress to another tier financially, but that shouldn't be the sole focus. It's not a tick and flick. It's not something you do because it's mandated and you've got to be able to say to the people on culture team or to your manager or whoever yes, I've done them, I've finished them. Here's my documents. You can see I've done that.
Speaker 1:The whole purpose of an appraisal is to improve performance, to reflect, to improve performance and promote growth. If you're only doing it as a tick and flick, this podcast is absolutely useless to you. My suggestion is if you're only committed to doing them as a tick and flick, get them done as quickly and painfully as possible and move on to something that does add value. Having said that, if you do that, then you're missing a massive opportunity. It's a huge opportunity performance appraisals to both build team and to promote continuous growth. Performance appraisals have the capacity to fundamentally change performance. They have the capacity to fundamentally change the way people approach and feel about their work. They have the capacity to make sure people are growing all the time. But if we're approaching and I know I'm laboring the point on number one, but it's so important If we approach appraisals with the mindset of it's just something we've got to do, so let's get it done, then it's not going to add that value for you and it's a massive missed opportunity. My solution for number one is some of them are really practical and really tangible.
Speaker 1:This one is just a moment of reflection is why do you, if you're and the biggest problem we see of the ones I've listed is the tick and flick mentality why do you believe that they need to be tick and flick? Why is it that you don't think they add value? Is there some evidence they don't add value in the way you do them? Is the way the organization approaches them? Is it that you don't think they add value? Is there some evidence they don't add value in the way you do them? Is it the way the organisation approaches them? Is it too convoluted? Is the process absorbing the discussion? That should add the value? Is that something you need to address in conversations with the people designing them? Or and this is the most likely outcome here do you need to adapt the way you approach them? Do you say, okay, this is a system I've got to work with, so I'll do that bit? That's the tick and flick component, because I'm required to do that but I'll adapt my approach that sits around that to make them really effective? That's the biggest tip I can give you. So, whether it's your thinking that makes them tick or flick or the system if it's you, you've got to take a long hard look at yourself. If it's the system, then you've got to say, well, how do I satisfy the system but add the value in? And many of the other tips I'm going to give you will help you do that.
Speaker 1:The next reason that performance appraisals don't work is we have the wrong frequency, which I alluded to in the introduction. I don't believe there's a one-size-fits-all approach that works for everyone. That works for everyone in your team, every organisation, every situation. I'm not even saying there's a different frequency for every organisation, that some organisations should do them every 12 months, some every six. I'm saying there should be different frequencies within your team, with your people. I'm in favour of having appraisals every three, six or 12 months.
Speaker 1:Now I heard some of you just gasp and go pale because they're a pain in the backside to do every 12 months. So why would you inflict that upon yourself every three months? Well, what if I've got someone who's struggling and we do this appraisal and right, we're done. It goes in the bottom drawer and we review this in 12 months. Does that really meet their need? That's the tick and flick mentality. So I might have someone who's really new in my team. I might have someone whose performance is unacceptable. I might have someone who says I'd quite like a more frequent appraisal just while I build my confidence. I think once a year is not doing that. It's just not cutting it in that situation.
Speaker 1:So I think it's really important for you as the leader and for the team member that you're appraising, to have a conversation about the frequency. Sometimes it might be six months, sometimes it might be 12 months. So what that really means is, every three months you might do one person's appraisal. Every six months you do the next one and someone who's on a six-monthly cycle, and then every 12 months you do the rest of the time. That's fine, that's not a problem. Now you may have to justify that.
Speaker 1:So the person who you decide you want to do an appraisal with more often, they may challenge you on this. They may say, well, I feel like I'm being targeted. As long as it's based upon their performance, that's fine. As long as you can look them in the eye and say, yeah, I am evaluating you more often and the reason is because your performance isn't where it needs to be, or because I think you're struggling a bit, or because I think you're lacking confidence. I think I'd like to give you a bit more guidance, a bit more support, until you get to a point where we might back that off. So don't get locked into this one size fits all approach.
Speaker 1:12 months is perfect for some people. Typically, they'll be people who are working really well, who are clear on what they want to achieve, who are clear on what you need from them, on the expectations and objectives, and who have a track record of staying at high performance, and who have a track record of staying at high performance and who have a track record of being culturally aligned. 12 months is fine with them, if you do need to defend the decision. By the way, isn't that a great conversation to have with someone. Shouldn't that actually be part of that really robust, really respectful, really transparent conversation you have with your team members of? Yeah, we are having them more often and this is the reason why it may not be comfortable, but comfortable is completely overrated.
Speaker 1:One other thing I'm going to throw in here that doesn't quite fit the framework we've talked about so far is performance appraisals, and obviously with them 12 monthly doesn't work. Now, you may not be doing performance appraisals for people on probation is what I meant to say at all and if you're not again a missed opportunity, I believe. If you're appointing people, then getting to six months and either ticking and flicking them and saying, yeah, you passed, or saying, look, I'm sorry you missed. You're appointing people, then getting to six months and either ticking and flicking them and saying, yeah, you've passed, or saying, look, I'm sorry you missed, you're not quite at the standard, then you're letting them down and you're missing an opportunity to grow people the way you need to. Once people pass their probation, I can 99.9% guarantee you that they're not going to become more culturally and team aligned. Their skills, their technical performance may improve, but team and cultural alignment if it's not good at five months, it's not going to be good at two years.
Speaker 1:So what I like to do is, at the beginning of a probation period, is sit down and set some probation goals. This is what I'd like. So I'm giving them the goalposts at the end of the six months. I think you've then got to check in with them after one month. I think you've then got to check in with them after three months and maybe again in between. And I think you've got to check in with them at five months. And be really honest, at five months of, you're either on track to meet those goals and pass probation or you're not. If they get to the end of six months and it's a surprise that they're not at the level they should be, you have let them down. That's full stop. It's black and white. If you've given them every opportunity to improve and they haven't that's on them. Do improve, and they haven't that's on them. So let's talk about the next.
Speaker 1:The third reason that appraisals don't work and why you shouldn't bother with them. And that's a misunderstanding around how appraisals should look and feel. They're not top-down assessments from a manager to an employee. That's why you've probably seen this. I've certainly seen this particularly in organisations where I've, either as a senior leader or as an external consultant, helped implement an appraisal framework or helped structure one that was very random and make it a little bit more unpredictable.
Speaker 1:I've seen so many times people walking down the hallway towards the office dreading the conversation. They feel like there's going to be a bucket of cold stuff poured all over them. We see that gallows humour come out, that people say they walk out of the team room and they say to people oh, it's been good working with you. And I know they're being flippant, I know it's gallows humour, but it tells us something about the perception of a performance appraisal that there's this perception that it's going to be a top-down, one-way discussion where you hear everything you haven't been doing right and where you might find out whether you're in trouble or not. Isn't it amazing that adults still talk about, oh, am I going to be in trouble when they're just going to have an adult conversation? But that's because of the perception, either from past experience in other organizations or because of the way they actually work in your organization. So they should not be a top-down assessment. They should be a performance-related discussion between two people and here's the big thing who give each other feedback.
Speaker 1:So one of the things we always say about how well your people will receive feedback from you, and what's the biggest indicator or predictor of that? Well, it's how will you receive feedback from them If you don't even give them opportunity to give you feedback in this discussion? They might sit and look back. They're listening to what you say to them, but are they listening? And does it even really land? Does it make any difference? You might have satisfied the requirement to tell them, but does it actually make a difference? So a really good way to model receiving feedback, which is what you want from them, is to say to them and I would suggest leading not quite the first thing you'll say, and I'll come to that later, but something you might say very early in your discussion is so, as your manager, how am I going? What can I do to support you to achieve your goals more effectively? What would you like me to do differently over the next three, six, 12 months, me to do differently over the next three, six, 12 months From what I've done in the past? What do you like about what I do? What do you struggle with with me? When am I not at my best for you. And then you've got to listen to what they say non-defensively, because that's what you expect them to do when you give them feedback.
Speaker 1:The fourth reason that appraisals don't work, that they're not worth bothering with, is that they're the wrong time, the wrong place. Now I'm going to focus mainly on time rather than place, because I know that you're unlikely to do their performance appraisal at the train station or in the middle of the team room or, you know, in the canteen or anything like that. I doubt you're going to do that, and if you were going to do that, then maybe just move on from that and pretend it never happened. I think the big thing is around the right time. Having said that, before I go on, I'm going to give you one or two other tips about the right place.
Speaker 1:Your office is a place of power, of potential power, imbalance power, differential. I'm not convinced that your office is always the best place to have a two-way discussion, with you sitting on one side of the desk and them sitting on the other. It conveys that top-down, that one-way thing. So I'm a bit of a fan of a meeting room. I don't mind doing an appraisal. I joked about a canteen before. I don't mind a coffee shop or somewhere less structured, as long as it's somewhere where you can talk honestly and without worrying about people around you, and where it's not noisy so that you're not distracted, etc. I think a meeting room can be really effective and I think the way you sit can be really effective, so you're not across a table from each other. It's more of a relaxed situation, perhaps sort of beside each other, um, or at a corner of a table, with one on each side of that corner. It just removes that sort of major barrier between you. So I think that's worth noting.
Speaker 1:But the wrong time is a really big one. This is where we have 20 minutes between meetings. So we decide ah, let's knock off that appraisal, let's get it done. I've got a little gap in my diary here, so let's get let's. Let's tick that one off again. We're going back to the tick and flick mentality. If you're going to be interrupted, if your phone's ringing, if you're in the middle of something that that you know you're going to have to address, that's not the time. It derails the effectiveness of the performance and it also sends a message that this isn't particularly important. So make sure you've got dedicated time and that you've got enough time to let the conversation develop, so it's not just a series of bullet points.
Speaker 1:You can't have a conversation in too compact a time. I think you need to allow less than an hour and sometimes, given what you're trying to achieve in terms of and we'll go through a conversation structure in a while you might even want longer with some people. You don't want it to go on for half a day. You're off topic, you've lost structure and again go on for half a day. You're off topic, you've lost structure and again, we'll dig into that in a moment. But what you're trying to do is reflect on a potentially a year's performance and you're trying to set up the next year's performance. Give it the time. Give it the time it deserves. An hour, an hour and 15 minutes spent on that is a very small investment. We've got to put it in context of what we're trying to achieve here. The number of scrub fires you can prevent with good appraisals will save you multiples of the time you invest up front. The fifth reason they don't work is it's the only performance discussion you've had all year. It's the only performance discussion you've had all year.
Speaker 1:I, as a CEO, at one point had a manager, a direct report of mine, and there was something that she'd raised with me that clearly needed to be raised with her direct report. And we were in her office and she got their file from the cabinet and wrote a note in there. And I asked her what she was doing and she said, oh, I'm making a note to make sure I remember to bring it up at a review. And I said when's the review? And she said, oh, in about three months. I've got them scheduled for then and my comment was so you're going to allow that behaviour to continue for three months without giving them the opportunity to change it now and you're going to deny them three months of opportunity to grow and develop? The manager responded to me and said but that's what reviews are for. They're to deal with issues. That's 100% incorrect. Now I didn't say it to her like that. We had a coaching discussion, reviews, a summary of all those other discussions we've had during the year.
Speaker 1:People should get feedback instantly, and when I say instantly, I don't mean like in the wrong moment, I mean as soon as you possibly can. Feedback should be micro feedback. It should be given frequently, it should be given on the job. It should be given at less formal catch-ups that you have off the job. A great rule of thumb is that a person shouldn't hear something at their review they haven't heard before, unless it happened that morning. Whether it's something positive or something that needs to be improved, it needs to be raised straight away. They deserve to hear straight away.
Speaker 1:Don't let problems persist, because the other thing you do is you create an avalanche of feedback and then that creates resentment and people say well, I didn't, I've never heard any of this before. Fair enough, yeah, your answer might be no. No, you haven't, because I'm raising it now. Their response to that is why why didn't you talk to me at the time when it was a problem, when I could have addressed it straight away? So make a habit of giving micro feedback. You might put the note on the file to come back to and have a discussion. Look, we raised this three months ago. How do you think you're going with it? You know what's changed. I'm seeing some improvement, but I'd like to see a bit more, et cetera, et cetera. That's fine. It's a summary, not the first time.
Speaker 1:So the sixth reason that performance reviews don't work and you shouldn't bother doing them is they're poorly planned. You can't wing a good appraisal. You can't just walk in and go right, let it rip, let's get this done. I think what you should do is, out of respect for that person, is both plan yourself and help them plan. So I think there's a real opportunity to frame the appraisal in the way you prepare as well. So I think what you've got to do is prepare a lot of questions that you want to ask and I think you've got to have some information that you've pre-prepared to fill in the blanks. So and again, this comes back to the structure a little bit and I'll come back to this in more detail when we get to that particular problem but I think you've got to plan the questions and I think you've got to plan the things that you want to make sure come up under those questions, and then you introduce those things if they haven't raised them. I also think so if you plan everything you want to say, I think what you will end up doing is spending the whole meeting talking. You need to spend a significant proportion listening.
Speaker 1:Again, that comes back to another tip. So prepare questions and prepare the information you want to make sure that comes out under those. The other thing I think you should do is prepare questions for them. So I like to send people hey, we're going to catch up to do your annual review next week at this time. Here's some questions I'd love you to think about in preparation for that. So they walk in not like a deer in the headlights. They walk in thinking about or having thought already about some of these things. I've had people walk in with pages of notes in response to those questions and I've paid people no notes, but they've just been ticking over in their minds.
Speaker 1:It also helps you set up some of the philosophy of the appraisal, and that will become clear as I give you some suggestions. So what sort of questions might I include? It might be remember we're preparing for a two-way feedback process. One of the first questions you might suggest to them is what am I doing? Well, get them to think about that before they walk in the room. Then you might get into their own reflection. What have you done this year that you're really proud of? What have you done this year that, on reflection, you'd change, that you'd do differently? What growth would you like to have in the next 12 months? What opportunities would you like to get in the next 12 months. It doesn't really matter what the specific questions are, as long as they cover a broad range of what the discussion is going to cover. So they're a little microcosm of what the appraisal is going to be, and that set I just gave you is a pretty good coverage of what you want to go through.
Speaker 1:So the seventh reason appraisals don't work is that you give a one-dimensional appraisal, that you focus entirely on task and technical performance, and if you're a very task-focused person, it's really easy to do that. How many widgets have they made, or how well they've complied with regulations, or how they line up against a quality framework, or what their skill level and knowledge might be around certain things? That's all really important stuff, but it completely ignores 50% of what it means to be a great team member. The other 50% is all about team and cultural fit. So make the appraisal multidimensional and focus on things like how they interact with their colleagues. How do they self-manage? Are they disciplined? What's their self-awareness like? How do they interact with other departments, with customers who rely upon your team? How do they interact with you? Are they open to feedback? Do they live the values of the team of the organisation. So make sure that you divide your appraisal process and the questions you prepare between both of those areas. So have some that are really technical and really task-focused and make sure that you have some that are team and cultural fit and make sure there's a reasonable balance between those two. Don't send the message that, hey, I don't care whether you fit in around here and how you impact the culture, as long as you get your technical job done. Don't send that message to the appraisal.
Speaker 1:The next reason, which I think is number eight, is not appraising everyone, the sense that it's the managers, that managers don't get appraised, it's just the frontline workers. The message again from that is it's a top-down tool, it's a management tool, that it's something that's good enough for the workers but not suitable for everyone else. I'm a huge believer that every person an organisation has, or every person in the organisation, should have an appraisal. The CEO should be appraised by the board. Now we don't have a board. I'm the most senior person in our organisation. My appraisal comes from my direct reports, from the people around me, because you know what my effectiveness is very largely gauged. My effectiveness as a leader is almost entirely gauged on the environment I create for them to perform in. So I believe that the most senior manager should also have an appraisal, and from there it gets easy. The senior, the ceo, can appraise the c-suite, the c-suite can approach, can appraise their own reports, etc. And it cascades down, except I'm going to tell you in a moment I would cascade it up, but more on that when we get to it. So make sure that, whatever your structure is, that you've got a system for everyone to be appraised. And just think about this the purpose of an appraisal is to reflect on the past year and grow from it, learn from it and grow in the coming year.
Speaker 1:Why would we not want that for every person in the organisation? Number nine is a lack of skill and training. We're asking managers to do appraisals without giving them the skills that sit around it. This all comes from the belief or the view of appraisals being a technical process rather than the leadership skill. And again, if it's tick and flick, it's a technical process rather than the leadership skill. And again, if it's tick and flick, it's a management process. Tick it and flick it. If we want it to be a developmental process, then we've got to give managers the skills to do it well.
Speaker 1:So do the managers we're asking to do appraisals. Do they have strong performance management skills? Are they good at setting expectations? Do they know how to give feedback in a constructive way? Do they know how to deal honestly with uncomfortable issues and sit with uncomfortable? Do they have influencing skills? What's their emotional intelligence like? Do they know what coaching means instead of just providing information? Do they know how to ask a whole bunch of questions and effective follow-up questions rather than just filling the space with more and more talking? Don't throw your managers in the deep end and say here's the system off you go, do these things. Have them back by this date. Give them the skills and give them the training, and I am going to say here upfront if that's something that you feel like you would like assistance with, give us a call. That's what we excel at.
Speaker 1:Number 10 is a lack of structure. Now, I don't want a rigid structure, but we just sort of meander through the conversation. I'll put a 10A here is too much structure. So what we need to be effective and not have 10, lack of structure with 10A too much, is we need a structure, but the freedom to move within it. I like a systematic conversation. I'm going to talk to you about what this looks like for me, and I accept that you might have some specific criteria that you're going to assess against, et cetera, but I still think you can embed a lot of what I'm talking about here. For those of you who the message about maybe your system pushes you towards tick and flick and you have to find a way to make them meaningful. If that resonated with you, I think a lot of the key is in all the tips, but in this structure I'm about to go through with you. So I'd like to have you might have some criteria that you've got to assess people against that you fill out, and you might have certain things that you've got to assess people against that you fill out, and you might have certain things that you've got to deal with, and that's just the requirement of your people and culture team or more senior leadership Within that find a way to try and get these elements in.
Speaker 1:So I like to start with two questions people don't expect. The first of those is are you happy at work? How are you feeling at work? Now, those are not the two questions. They're sort of variations on the first one. I want people to relax. I want them to get that fear of appraisal out of the way. I want them to know I'm actually focused on them and developing them and how we're all going to do better together next year, rather than am I going to berate them or give them a scorecard or sit there with a red pen and go through what they've said about themselves. I want to get that out of the way. One of the best ways to do that is to talk about something that is very closely related but doesn't focus immediately on performance criteria and is very much about them, shows that you're interested in them. So are you happy at work? And then I want to have a bit of a conversation with that around that, with some follow-up questions. I've, by the way, had to stop two appraisals where that question raised such issues of mental health. I thought we need to deal with these before we actually get into the appraisal. I think the appraisal will do more harm right now than good. That doesn't mean I'll put it off forever. Generally speaking, I've dealt with those issues or come up with strategies around those issues and then circle back to the conversation a few weeks later.
Speaker 1:The second thing I like to do is ask for feedback on myself, and I alluded to this before. But once again, it's not what they're expecting, which is why I like to do it. It also sets the message that this is two-way. It sets the message that I'm open to feedback. I'm modelling great skills around receiving feedback by asking for it, by inviting and then listening to it. Well, some team members won't be ready, they haven't relaxed into the process enough and they might just pull back. They don't trust the process yet, so they still see it as potentially a punitive one. So when you ask, how am I going as your manager, they might sort of perceive a trap. Some people are great and they just plough in, just be aware that if you don't get much at that point, it is worth circling back to later, once they've realised the process is a positive one. And then I do like to get into that, the next stage, which is all about how they're going, and I like to ask questions around. So what are you doing well? What are you proud of? You know what's worked well for you in the last 12 months.
Speaker 1:I actually think if you've got criteria that you need to tick off against because of your system, I think this can sit within this framework. I think there are some things you could raise some of the things there that you've seen that you're doing really well. You could say, hey, going through all those criteria, instead of going through them from a to z, you might say, let's focus on the ones that you've put down, that you're doing, you know, you do feel you're doing well on um, and then dig in, raise some questions. This is where, if you feel that they've raised some things but they've missed a few and you've done your planning, your preparation, you can say, hey, I totally agree with you on those. In a moment I'll address what happens if you don't agree. But I agree with you on those, but I think you've missed a couple of things. I think you're not giving yourself enough credit and I think it can play into that beautifully.
Speaker 1:So then we might say let's focus on some of the stuff that you would like to work on. What would you like to develop? What do you look back on and say, okay, there's a bit of a gap there that I could focus on in the coming 12 months. So again, that can be done exactly the same way and don't be scared about digging into that don't just skim across the surface. Well, I didn't do this so well, instead of going, oh yeah, great, what do they? What would that look like? What does that mean? This is why you need time.
Speaker 1:Um, by the way, if you've got specific criteria you need to evaluate against, I've seen some organizations with set criteria for everyone in the organization. I've seen this with 1200 employees in such a diverse range of roles that it's not relevant, or so much of what's there is not relevant for so many people. I'm really keen on tweaking that and, as a leader, as a manager potentially that's something you could do with people and culture to say, hey, I'd like to deal with these slightly differently. You may get a no, but it's worth asking the question. With these slightly differently, you may get a no, but it's worth asking the question. So I think, once you've done that, what you've really done is set up the third question, which is what would you like to work on in the next year? Because really, the whole point of this is to have reflected on what's been and then to say how do we do even better next year? For some people, that might be a big gap. For some people, that might be a small evolution, depending upon where they are. Now they're pretty, pretty simple and pretty high level questions. So obviously, sitting under each of those questions, I think there's digging down and you can fit some of your formal criteria under it. But I think it's a really wonderful overall framework to have a really constructive two-way conversation.
Speaker 1:So, number 11, the 11th reason these things don't work is you do all the talking. Now it's ironic because you're listening to a podcast where I do all the talking in which I'm saying this. But it's hard to make the podcast two-way. I think you should aim to make it 70-30. I think you should do about 30% of the talking and they should do about 70%. The way you do that is by, rather than preparing a whole bunch of statements, you prepare questions. Statements don't invite them to say anything and are usually followed by another statement from you. Questions draw them in. You can achieve so much of the appraisal by asking them the questions, having them reflect and having them tell you exactly what you wanted to tell them, and when that happens, it's so much more powerful. The learning is so much deeper. It's also why you've got a little checklist of things so you can fill in the gaps. So very much. Focus on questions, prepare questions, ask questions, leave silences and obviously open questions are great to get the conversation going and then you might drill down and confirm things with a few more closed questions.
Speaker 1:Problem number 12 is where the feedback comes from, and I'm so big on this one. Feedback should not all be from you, because that's a very one-dimensional point of view. I think feedback should be 360. And that doesn't mean you've got to use a formal diagnostic tool. If you do want to use that, talk to us.
Speaker 1:But I think it's really important that as a leader, a manager ticks and flicks these things. A leader invests in the process as a growth strategy. A leader recognises how much you stand to gain from these and doesn't mind putting some time into it. And part of that time is around looking at how they impact their peers, hearing the feedback from their peers. It doesn't mean you go and interrogate the whole team about how's this person doing, although you might if you've got a really specific concern or if you're unsure about something. But ear to the ground, if you're connected to your team, you'll be hearing stuff all the time, so that's part of the feedback you should be giving them. If they're a manager managing people, then a lot and I mean a lot of their feedback should be coming from the people that they lead, because one of their key roles is creating an environment in which those people do great work. So that should be another source, and a very, very important source of feedback for them is from them. It's that self-reflection. So what we want to be doing in giving the feedback to them and in our preparation is drawing the information from all of those sources, because then it's a rounded perspective, it is the 360-degree feedback.
Speaker 1:So reason number 13, and I'm just checking my numbering here is, in fact, yep, it's number 13. Hopefully it's lucky. It's that we insist upon agreement, that we compromise the outcome of an appraisal because someone doesn't agree with what we're going to say. If you do these well, there will be times where someone doesn't like what you say to them, where they don't actually agree with all the feedback. Now, for example, you might have someone you fill in a blank and you say, okay, I think you've raised some things there that you'd like to improve on, but this is also something that I'd like you to work on Potentially and it's often around people skills.
Speaker 1:Potentially, sometimes I think you can be a little bit abrasive. When you're talking to people, you're really direct and I don't feel that actually lands all that well for everyone. I don't agree. And if you're over obsessed with agreement, what you'll do is you'll start trying to impose, you'll try to start persuading them and now you're sort of really stuck on that one point and that's derailing the whole thing and you're also in danger of saying, oh well, we'll just leave that one because you don't think it's okay to leave an appraisal with something they don't agree with. I think that's absolutely wrong.
Speaker 1:I think there are times where we leave an appraisal and we say to someone remembering we're their leader and performance is not always a matter of agreement. It is 100% okay for you to say I'm happy to note that you don't agree with that, but I still require you to address it. So we've had a conversation here and I will note that we've had a conversation where we had different perspectives and that you don't agree that you can land that way for some people, that you can be abrasive, but it's my perspective that you do, it's my observation that you do, and so I'm not going to ask you to agree with me. That's your choice. What is not. Your choice is addressing that behavior and I'm willing to support you in doing that. But I'm actually not willing to compromise on the requirement that you address the behaviour. Sometimes you have that difficult moment where someone you ask them to list strengths and they list as one of their strengths something you think isn't. And again it might come up there and of course that's an even more awkward moment because you're actually directly contradicting and it's okay, don't be scared of that. I see that one differently. I don't. For me, that's an area that I can see, that what you've said I can see, that it's an area you're focused on. That's brilliant, but I do think you've got some growth to make in the area and that's what it would look like from my perspective. If they don't agree, that's fine, but don't compromise on the requirement that they actually take action.
Speaker 1:Number 14, the second last one, I think. So I'm not going to keep it too much longer. This has gone longer this episode, but I hope it's giving you a heap of value. These are so important appraisals and I hope this episode's giving you a lot of value. Number 14 is there's no development plan, that we focus a discussion on what happened and we have some loose intentions when we walk away, but no actual formal development plan, and there's a 14A here that I'll come to in a moment. So I'm absolutely insistent that every appraisal should should end with an individual development plan, no matter who they are, that documents what they'll be working on over the next period, whether it be three, six or twelve months. Essentially, what are we going to, what are the benchmarks we're looking to achieve and how we're going to do that. So the development plan, I believe should include and it may include much more than this, but at least one technical or skill-based or task-based item and one people and culture or personal or interpersonal-related item. So the interpersonal thing could be developing their confidence. It might not even be the way they impact. Interpersonal thing could be developing their confidence. It might not even be the way they impact, but it could be having more confidence in dealing with certain situations. I think that then focuses. That means the clear message is we're focused on both those things as a really important part of the way we're growing our team Now 14A was not to confuse development with training.
Speaker 1:This breaks my heart, because we deliver training. It's how we make a lot of our income. Training is not the be-all, end-all. Training is not the only solution. If the development plan you come up with with an individual only focuses on the training courses they're going to attend and you're missing most of the development. It should include things that oh well, as your manager, the way we'll work on that is I'll just give you some opportunities to work on that and then we'll debrief together. It might be that someone else in the organisation mentors them. It might be that they do some research and bring up their knowledge or skill around a certain item. It might be that they attend a training course. 70% of what they learn should happen on the job and it should be deliberate, through experience, through doing things and by deliberately debriefing with you or with someone, and that would normally be the direct supervisor.
Speaker 1:So that's the development plan, and the final one, the number 15, is that there's no follow-through. So if your filing cabinet is where development plans and appraisal outcomes go to die, then they're not going to work, I believe, even if it's a three, six or 12 month cycle, I think as a manager, you should be getting that document out, the development plan in particular, and reviewing it once a week, once a fortnight. Now I'm not saying spend hours, it could be 10 or 15 minutes a week. You get out the development plans for your team, you scan through and what you're looking for is opportunities to go and see them and catch them doing things right and saying, well done. That's exactly what this looks like and you're reinforcing steps towards achieving the development plan.
Speaker 1:Or you're looking at things that, yeah, this one's drifting a bit and I need to sit down with them, or it might even be look, I think you've achieved everything on here now, rather than stagnate between now and the next appraisal. What could we, what could we put in there as some stretches that we'll look at. So it's been, and this is the difference again between management and leadership. This is the difference between tick and flick and seeing these as a growth process. So make sure you're constantly looking at them, looking for things that help people recognise that they're already making progress, kept them doing things right, and look for things that they might need to continue or they might need to refocus on Something's slipping through the cracks a bit. So there's the 15. There's the 15 reasons that performance appraisals and reviews are a complete waste of time, and hopefully more than 15 solutions for you.
Speaker 1:Please remember all those other resources I talked about. You can access them on demand. Make sure you sign up for the newsletter so you get a list of all the resources for each month's theme. If you would like more support, talk to us about our performance management program inspiring high performance, managing poor performance. So check out that product page and give us a call and let's have a talk about what a course might look for you. I'll look forward to seeing you or talking with you in next month's podcast, but in the meantime, stay authentic. Come and see the real thing. Come and see the real thing. Come and see. Come and see the real thing. Come and see the real thing.